Ornamental lamp holder



May 11, 1965 s. LAVIANO 3,182,944

ORNAMENTAL LAMP HOLDER Filed June 19, 1962 INVENTOR.

T E 54M LAV/ANO Lad/W1 ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,182,944 ORNAMENTAL 'LAMP HOLDER Sam Laviano, 10799 Sharon Road, Parma 30, Ohio Filed June 19, 1962, Ser. No. 203,637 1 Claim. (Cl. 248226) This invention relates to supports and particularly to a socket support for decorative electric lamps.

Conducive to a better understanding of the invention it may be well to point out that in the decoration and ornamentation of buildings for carnivals and holidays it is common practice to string colored or clear electric light bulbs along the drip-boards of the roof gutters of homes and other structures for the purpose of providing a spectacular and colorful festive display.

However, the manner of securing the lamp sockets to the supporting structure has, at best, been haphazard and unsatisfactory, since such installations are only intended to be temporary and therefore the cost of rigidly mounting the sockets is not justified.

Ordinarily the lamp sockets are strung along a length of electric cable at intervals of one or two feet, and then suspended along the roof gutter drip boards by means of nails or screw eyes driven into the board.

Such mounting does not assure that the socket and lamps will hang straight, for the angle of suspension is dependent upon the tension of the electric cord and its manner of attachment to the nails or screw eyes.

Furthermore, the cord is often visible, creating the impression that it is a make-shift installation.

The primary object of this invention, therefore, is to provide an ornamental lamp holder that will anchor the lamp socket firmly to the drip board, perpendicular thereto, and secure against tilting by the wind or the tension of the electric which serves it.

Another object is to provide such a holder that can be readily mounted and dismantled while at the same time giving the visual effect of permanency.

A further object is to provide a lamp holder of the type stated, for use with a drip-board, that will hide the service cable behind the board while holding the supported socket and lamp in clear view.

Still other objects are toprovide a lamp holder, as defined, that is simple in structure, economical to manufacture, and easy to use.

These, and other objects of the invention, will become apparent from a reading of the following specification and claim, together with the accompanying drawing, wherein like parts are referred to and indicated by like reference numerals, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of a section of roof gutter and drip board, showing two of the ornamental lamp holders that are the subject of this invention, mounted thereon;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the unmounted lamp holder, showing an electric socket and bulb, retained therein; and

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the unit as it appears unmounted and without its held socket and lamp.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, there are seen in FIGURE 1, thereof, two of the ornamental lamp holder (broadly indicated by reference numeral that are the subject of this invention, as they appear mounted on the drip-board 11 of a house gutter 12.

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Each holder 10 has a socket, including an electric lamp 15, retained therein.

It will be noted that the sockets 13 and lamps 15 are precisely spaced in a dependent position exactly perpendicular to the lower edge of the drip-board 11.

Each holder 10, as is seen most clearly in FIGURE 3, comprises a substantially U-shaped rigid sheet metal frame having a corrosion resistant coating.

The frame has an elongated base 16 terminating in opposed, flat and parallel, upstanding end portions, or jaws, 17 and 18 adapted to receive the edge of the dripboard 11 therebetween.

A dependent wire bracket 22 is mounted on the first end portion 18, in a plane perpendicular to the frame base 16, and terminates in a resilient split ring 23, in a plane at right angles thereto, spaced downwardly of and parallel to the plane of the base 16, and adapted to receive and snugly encircle an electric lamp socket 13, as seen in FIGURE 2.

The inner face 24 of the ring 23 is flat, so as to provide a wide bearing surface against the retained socket 13, thereby preventing and overcoming any tendency of the socket to tilt away from the vertical axis of the ring 23.

Reference numeral 20 indicates an upstanding fiat pressure plate, slidably mounted on the base 16 through a slot 21, and freely movable between the two end portions 17 and 18 thereof.

A clamping screw 19 is threadedly mounted through the second end portion 17, with its end adapted to engage the pressure plate 20, and operable thereagainst to urge the plate 20 toward the bracket end, or jaw 18.

In use in connection with a string of ornamental electric lamps 15, each socket 13 thereof is mounted through the bracket ring 23 of a holder 10, with the socket 13 faced downward, or away from the base 16, as seen in FIGURE 2.

Each holder 10 is then positioned against the lower edge of the drip-board 11, with the board nested between the pressure plate 20 and the jaw 18, and with the clamp screw 19 faced toward the viewer, as seen in FIGURE 1.

The holder is anchored in place by rotating the screw 19 against the plate 20, which in turn is urged against the drip-board edge nested between the plate 20 and the base jaw 18, thereby firmly gripping the board 11 between the plate 20 and the jaw 18.

With the holder 10 so mounted, the electric cable 14 is hidden behind the drip-board 11 withthe socket 13 and lamp 15 in full view, in a dependent position, perpendicular to the edge of the drip-board 11.

While the device has been described in association with a house gutter drip-board, it is to be understood that it may be used to mount electric lamp sockets along the edge of any structural element whose edge may be fitted between the frame jaws 17 and 18.

It will now be clear that there is provided a device which accomplishes the objectives heretofore set forth.

While the invention has been disclosed in its preferred form, it is to be understood that the specific embodiment thereof described and illustrated herein is not to be considered in a limited sense, as there may be other forms or modifications of the invention which shouldalso be construed to come within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim: In an assembly for mounting an electric lamp socket on 3 4 the edge of a house drip board, or the like; a substantially References Cited by the Examiner Uf-slgaped sheet metal strip, adapted to fit around the edge UNITED STATES PATENTS o t e aforesaid drip board; a unitary, resilient, half-round Wire, split ring having an upstanding terminal arm, normal 1: 2 22 2 5 5 5 to its circular plane, mounted on one leg of the U-shaped 5 1 3O3555 5/19 E 248M229 X strip in a dependent position and adapted to receive and 1355750 10/20 Leibner X snugly encircle an electric lamp socket in a dependent 1861151 5/32 'i: 248 229 X position; and a threaded screw mounted through the other FOREIGN leg of the U-shaped strap, operable to move toward the first leg and against the aforesaid drip board positioned 10 1,224,003 6/60 France.

therebetween' CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner. 

